Image Details

Verlag Kölner Dom/Photo Dr. Jakob Schlafke

Jonah and Jesus (Jonah is shown here, compare with next photo) occupy adjacent windows of the Cologne Cathedral. Within a chapel of the cathedral, pairs of windows juxtapose related scenes from the Old and New Testaments. Here, the story of Jonah anticipates the resurrection of Jesus. While Jonah floats away from entombment in the whale’s belly, Jesus rises from his tomb unnoticed by two sleeping guards.

The Gospel of Matthew explicitly links Jesus to the Hebrew prophet: “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40).